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muriel_volestrangler

(101,311 posts)
Tue May 22, 2018, 08:30 AM May 2018

'Permanent' interstellar visitor found

Unlike 'Oumuamua, the interstellar object which briefly visited the Solar System earlier this year, 2015 BZ509 (affectionately known as BZ) seems to have been here for 4.5 billion years.
...
BZ is in a retrograde orbit, moving around the Sun in the opposite direction to the eight planets, and the majority of other objects in the Solar System.
...
"We had this simulation which uses intense computing... to actually trace back in time to where this asteroid was when the planets finished forming," Dr Namouni explains.

The results suggested that BZ's only possible origin was outside our Solar System.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44173403

That surely makes it a fascinating target for a mission.
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'Permanent' interstellar visitor found (Original Post) muriel_volestrangler May 2018 OP
the thing that wouldn't leave... Javaman May 2018 #1
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